Wednesday wasn’t such a good day for Tucker Carlson’s confidence.
First the White House criticized the Fox News host for spreading lies about the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, then #TuckerCarlsonIsALiar became a trending hashtag on Twitter.
But the biggest insult to his reputation may be a recovered video from 2003 showing Carlson being interviewed on C-SPAN about his book, “A politicians, Guerrillas and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News,” and in particular Bill O’Reilly, who was the biggest name at Fox News at the time.
Carlson said he admired O’Reilly, but also issued a possible warning to the Fox News anchor, who was later fired in 2017 after a series of sexual harassment allegations against him.
“Bill O’Reilly is really talented, he’s more talented than I am, he’s got a lot more viewers, he’s a better communicator than I am,” said Carlson, who was a commentator on CNN’s “Crossfire” at the time, “but i think there’s a deep falseness at the center of his chic, and again, like i said, the chic is built on the perception that he’s the character he’s playing.
Here’s a link provided by Twitter user Ron Filipowski.
Although Carlson’s comments could be seen as mildly critical of O’Reilly, Politico columnist Jack Shaffer noted that “with a little tweaking, this O’Reilly estimate could be reduced and narrowed to suit Carlson.”
Twitter users seem to agree.
The truth is, Carlson is sometimes honest in a lie.
In September 2021, the Fox News host admitted to conservative media host Dave Rubin that he sometimes lies on his show.
“I mean, I’m lying if I’m really cornered or something,” Carlson admitted. “I lie. I really try not to. I try never to lie on TV. I just don’t… I don’t like to lie. I certainly do, you know, out of weakness or whatever.
In 2020, Fox News won a defamation lawsuit against Carlson, successfully arguing “that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer “arrives[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism” about the statement he’s making,” according to NPR.